[Dixielandjazz] Bechet's Main Instrument

[ROBERT R. CALDER]

There's no third-hand hearsay in my mail!  I never touch the stuff. 

I heard about Bechet's broken soprano accomplishment first-hand from Bruce Turner's own lips, he was a very nice man as well as a noted eccentric, and John Hammond rated him as an international player up with the best Americans.  Bechet's first soprano was bought second hand in London, and the frequency with which the horn appears in 1920s photos and recordings is well known to me. I have heard rather a lot of these recordings, even the ones with Doc Cheatham, which he remembered well, regretting that the presence on the same titles (with Ma Rainey) of a musical saw was unfortunate due to pitching problems. Doc said these were the only recordings he'd made on saxophone. 

The only sarrusophones I have ever seen (in museums as well as in photographs) had trumpet mouthpieces. I never got my hands on one (glass cases tend to be locked). It never occurred to me that a reed mouthpiece could be used. I certainly didn't confuse it with a serpent.  I have seen them in adjacent glass cases and fortunately they had made no attempts to intertwine. 




       
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